For Such a Time

God made me the way I am for a purpose! I don't know why I have been thinking about this lately, but actually, it's very humbling. Just consider, every asset, ability, character trait, talent, everything about you, God gave to you to bring glory to Himself. Maybe, it's physical beauty, poise, wit, wisdom, compassion, a certain talent, or even a spiritual gift. Maybe, you're a good speaker, good communicator, a good listener. Maybe , when people compliment you or mention these things, you can't help but feel a little proud. But consider, there's a responsibility that comes with these things. There's a reason God made you this way, to be able to accomplish something for Him. When I think about this, I am so humbled at the responsibility that comes with this. For each and every time God chooses to use me, my heart must be prepared. Whether it's in the everyday occurrences of life that I'm not even aware of, or like Esther, for a specific time and purpose, I must be walking in obedience and humility.
Parents, I believe it is important to teach this to our children, especially in areas that would cause pride. Teach them the responsibility that comes with the blessings of God. What He has blessed them with are not just their own accomplishments, but God has made them this way for a purpose.
We should all say like Paul, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Galatians 6:14.


Esther 4:14 "... who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this."

Psalm 139:14 "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew the..."

A Godly Mothers Influence

II Timothy 1:5 "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also."

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I read this verse and was struck with what a huge influence we mothers have on our children. We have such a huge responsibility to pass on our faith to our children. And that is done by first having a genuine faith in God ourselves. In this verse first the grandmother Lois is said to have an unfeigned (genuine) faith. She then passed the faith on to her daughter Eunice, and they both passed it on to Timothy (Timothy's father was a Gentile). And Timothy became a mighty man of God. I believe the key here is that these womens faith in God was real. As mothers our children need to see that we have an unwavering relationship with God. That no matter what, we are going to serve Him. That He is supreme in our lives. A friend and I were talking today about how so many woman use their husbands lack of dedication to God as an excuse for their own lack of dedication. This can not be the case. We must stay true to our faith for our childrens sake and also because we will each give account to God for ourselves one day. And, know that God is faithful!

Children and Competition

Me first! Me first! Do you ever hear these words? I suppose competition (maybe the better word is selfishness) among kids is inevitable considering their sinful nature. Having three children, close in age, I used to hear these words a lot. So, I had a talk with them and taught them the scripture that says "the last shall be first, and the first last..." Matt. 16:20. I told them that whoever yelled out "Me first!" was automatically going to be last to get whatever they were wanting. Well, after putting this into practice and them realizing what was going to happen if they asked to be first, it started a new practice. Instead of saying "me first", they started saying "Me last! Me last!".
Okay, maybe I didn't really solve my immediate dilemma, but hopefully the principal from scripture was drilled in their head enough that they will never forget it.

The Financial Challenges/Blessings of a SAH Mom

Being a SAH mom family definately came with sacrifices. My husband did not have a high paying job that made this choice easy. Every day was a challenge. But, as we trusted God to provide, His blessings often came in ways that would make it impossible for my kids to ever deny the existence of God. That made it all worth while. Let me share a few examples. One day we went in the thrift store, just to browse around. My daughter saw some drinking glasses on sale for a dime apiece. She said "Mom, we need some glasses, ours are all getting broken." Well, I had to tell her I didn't even have 10 cents for a glass. As we were walking to our car, a lady got out of the car next to us. She stopped us and said, "Do you'll happen to need some glasses? I have a whole box here I was going to take in the thrift store, but if you want them you can have them." Now, who could have done that but God? Another day as I sat in my car wondering what I could get in the store for supper with the change I had in my purse. When I opened my wallet, there was $3 in there! I knew it was not in there before! Now, it's easy to make a meal with $3. One morning as I was preparing for church, I was praying about my desire to take an offering to church. I felt like we received so much more there than we were able to give. It had turned cold that morning, and when I got out the jacket I had not wore since the winter before and put it on, guess what was in the pocket? Money! If I remember correctly, it was a $10 bill! Believe me, every time something like this happened the kids heard about it and we all rejoiced. I could go on and on. One thing my children also always remember are the friends who would show up with food at times. Now that they are older and realize how little our income was, it is even more amazing to them how we survived. One thing I know is, God made Himself real to all of us.
Psalm 78:4 "...we will not hide them from our children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done."
Psalms 89:1 "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations."

Training Children-Some Things We Did

My husband and I just returned home tonight from a quick trip to Albuquerque. Our son is the Worship Pastor at a church there and they were recording a live worship concert Friday night, so we went for the concert. Often when we meet friends of our children, they complement us on what fine kids we have and tell us what a good job we did. That's always great to hear as a parent even though I know that our kids are not perfect nor were we perfect parents (just ask our kids). But, I am very grateful that we have a good relationship with all 3 of our children, and that they all 3 love the Lord. These 2 things were my top priorities in raising them. As I rode in the car today, I began to think about some of the things we did that were part of our childrens training.

Every morning, they came to the table for breakfast, and before we ate, we bowed our heads and thanked God for the night of rest, for the food, for another day, and anything else we wanted to talk to Him about.

During the day, we often had christian music playing.

The majority of the books they had were either Bible stories or had a Biblical moral to them.

When a situation came up that needed urgent prayer, I would gather all the kids together, and we would all join in prayer for the need.

The kids and I often went to the nursing homes sometimes to sing, sometimes just to visit and pray with the elderly. (The kids did not interfere with ministry, they were a part of it.)

We often brought neighbor kids with us to church.

At lunch we once again thanked God for His blessings and again at supper.

While washing dishes in the evening we usually listened to Adventures in Odyssey on the radio (christian drama) or sang songs about God.

On Saturday mornings we didn't watch Sat. morn cartoons, we listened to kids radio (Childrens Bible Hour, Adventures in Odyssey, The Donut Man).

When we lived in apartments we had Saturday morning kids Bible club at our home for the neighbor kids.

At bedtime we talked to God again.

At bedtime we would either read a Bible story, listen to a Bible story on tape, listen to praise music, scripture songs, or other christian music.

When riding in the car we were often either listening to gospel music on the radio/tape or we were singing (or both),( sometimes very loudly through our nose seeing how good we were at singing blue grass, lots of fun).

We almost never missed Sunday School or church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wed. night, or any other time we got a chance to go. This was not because we had to, but because we loved to go. (This was a great opportunity to show our kids how important God and His house are.)

We went to a lot of gospel singings/concerts, revivals.

We prayed about everything: lost shoes, lost car keys, broken washing machine, you name it.

This list by no means includes everything, but you can see, serving God was a way of life for us. Biblical training was not a boring exercise that took place in trying to ingrain the Word of God into our kids, it happened naturally. As a matter of fact, it was fun! It was the way we lived. As they grow up, they each have trials and tests that they must face, but there should not be any doubt in their minds where to turn for help.

Let me say, if you have not lived life in this way, start today. It's never too late to let your children know how important God is to you. Even if they are grown, begin to live your life in such a way that they can see that you cannot live without Him, and see if it doesn't make an impact on them.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shoult teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. "